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Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016 has come to a close and what an amazing running year it was for me! I set PRs in the 5K and Half-Marathon and did a lot of self-reflection and work on mindset which has helped in running and in life. Here is a recap of my year:Goals

In January, my goals for 2016 were:

1. Run 3:15 in the Boston Marathon
2. Run a sub 19:00 5K
3. Incorporate core work 2x a week.

I poured everything into that first goal for the first 3.5 months of this year. When that was a flop, I revised my goal list:

1. Consistency

I am really proud of my consistency this year. Even with an injury that led to no running for a month, I logged more miles than 2015. I would like to continue to build on this in 2017. I also transitioned to becoming a morning runner for several months, which ended up gelling BEAUTIFULLY with my schedule. (Until ice and tons of snow messed it up this month!)

2. Strength training

Like core work, strength training is haphazard at best. Still have not incorporated either core/strength in a routine way, although have some momentum to build on from my participation in the #AMRStride plan

3. Break 19:00 in the 5K

CHECK! I ran 18:53 in the Run Tosa Run in May. Sadly, I did not run anymore sub 19 5Ks as I had a foot injury right before all my 5K races hit the calendar.

4. PR in the 8K

Womp Womp. My 8K time this year was 32:50, far off my 32:12 PR.

5. Do a half marathon and attempt a PR

CHECK and CHECK. My half marathon PR went from 1:33:23 to 1:29:14 !!!!

Races
I ran 10 races this year, which is 2 more races than 2015.

January: Icebreaker Marathon Relay
My team came in first place! This was my first Oiselle Volee meet up and it was so much fun that I signed up for it in 2017.

I recognize that this is actually on the low end of annual mileage, but it is what it is. Mileage for 2016 was 15.7% higher than 2015 total mileage. I was happy with the amount, considering I had 5 weeks of 0 miles this year, four due to injury and one post-half-marathon.

Shoes
I retired 4 pairs of shoes this year! (This sounds like a lot because I carried 3 of those over from 2015 with varying amounts of mileage).

I will be carrying 2 pairs of shoes into 2017 with me : Adidas Boost 2s (Magenta) and Mizuno Sayonara 3s. I really like both of these shoes and have just under 300 miles left on each!

I have a new pair of Saucony ISOs to start using and I won a pair of Asics running shoes in a local running contest. I have yet to pick those out.Nutrition
2016 was also a year that I stepped up my nutrition game. I did a Whole 30 in May which helped form some new habits - namely eating more fats, eating eggs + veggies for breakfast, and decreasing sugar (which admittedly TOTALLY went out the window in December - hello Christmas cookies!). Another good habit that I picked up was eating something immediately after a run - either a Picky Bar or a Rx Bar. I am still trying to hydrate more. I don't know why this is so difficult for me!

I stuck with Nuun for the majority of my sports drink and did gu packs for my marathon. I switched to Gen UCan for my half marathon and had a lot of success with this so stockpiled for spring 2017 marathon training.

Clothing
I replaced the majority of my running wardrobe this year. I still had running clothes from early college! I also had a lot of running clothes that I didn't really love. I donated all of my shorts and bought several pairs of Oiselle Distance Shorts, which are my favorite. I also beefed up my winter running gear by buying several pairs of new tights and a few new lightweight jackets and long sleeve shirts.

2016 was the year I tried, and loved, compression sleeves/socks, trucker hats, and a gaiter! I do not know how I got through winter running last year without a gaiter!

Reading
I read A LOT about running during 2016. Yes, there are my Friday links, but I also read several running books:

Ambassadorships
I renewed my Oiselle Volee team membership this year and participated in the Nuun and Momentum Jewelry ambassador programs. I also had fun helping out a friend by serving as the runner in some photos taken for his business, Serpentijn Art & Athletics.

Best Prizes
I won some fun race awards this year! Run Tosa Run always has an amazing prize pack full of gift cards to Wauwatosa businesses. I won a COOLER FULL OF BACON at the Race for the Bacon and a Bartolotta Restaurant gift card at the Hank Aaron State Trail race.

Best Contests
I enter a LOT of contests. As my friends like to point out, I also win a fair number of contests! This year I won some fun running items through contests:

Friday, December 30, 2016

This week's Friday Links pointed to the article outlining three questions to ask yourself before the new year. Here goes!

1. What were my three favorite athletic moments of 2016?

First, running the PNC Milwaukee Half Marathon. It was a textbook great race for me and culminated in shaving over 4 minutes off my half-marathon PR AND my first half under 1:30! Hands down my favorite race of 2016. I was proud of pushing through pain for the last few miles of this and not backing off the pace.

Second, FINALLY breaking 19:00 in the 5K at Run Tosa Run. I loved the competition of this race. Without the woman who finished second, I don't know that I would have ran this as fast as I did.

Third, my sometimes training partner Bettina and I had the most amazing 22 mile run leading up to the Boston Marathon. You can read about it at the end of this post.

2. What were my challenges this year?

Same challenge I always have - staying consistent. I think I made a lot of progress with this but December was a hot mess.

I also was challenged with a stress reaction in my metatarsal which threw off my 5K training for summer.

My biggest challenge that I started working on is mindset. The biggest example of this was the Boston Marathon where I physically felt off from the beginning and let my mind get sucked down as well. In several other races, I gave up or backed off when the onset of pain came.

3. What inspires me now? Write down three goals for 2017.

First, I want to PR in the marathon.

Second, I want to challenge myself with something new. To that end, I have signed up for a duathlon in July 2017. (Run 2 miles, bike 14.7 miles, run 2 miles.)

Third, I want to incorporate more yoga and meditation into my routine. I read A LOT about meditation in 2016. This started as a task for work. I was reading medical literature about health impact of meditation/mindfulness. That lead to a colleague and I taking a 6 week course in mindfulness, offered by my employer. That lead to me reading a few books on meditation:

One more day of 2016 left! Today's links are a compilation of looking back on 2016!

1. "2016 is almost over. It's not too late to pick out a special present for yourself. It's not too late to get off the fence if there are things you have wanted to do or say but have held back or played small. Do it. Say no to fear, hesitation, and indecision and say yes to your life." ~ Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers for Runner's Word, Getting Off the Fence

2. It's no secret that Sally Bergesen is one woman I want to be when I grow up. I enjoyed her Thank You 2016 post.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

I got out for a run three days last week, which is better than zero I guess. Two of the three runs were possible because of leaving work early and squeezing them in before my daughter got home from school. Thankfully, last week ended on a high temperature note so a lot of the snow and ice has melted from the road. I may be able to return to dark mornings now that I don't have to worry about slipping on ice!

Tuesday: 5.04 miles, 35:37 (7:04 avg pace)

The bus was late so I got a full 5 miles in! Yippee! I always end these runs by running circles near the entrance of our neighborhood so I can see when the bus comes. This means that I am usually running back to my driveway with the bus. My daughter told me this cute story of how the kids on her bus think I am really fast because I beat the bus to our driveway.

Wednesday: 4.2 miles, 30:01 (7:01 avg pace)

I ran around my office this day and while the sidewalks were fairly clear, I still fell on my bum. I did not injure myself, but still was really embarrassed since I fell into an intersection, at rush hour, so lots of people saw!

Saturday: 8.54 miles, 1:00:01 (7:02 avg pace)

It was a glorious day for a run. The temps were above freezing, turning all of our snow into a slushy mess. Unfortunately there were so many uncleared sidewalks which made for some slippery steps!

Mile 1: 6:58

Mile 2: 7:35

Mile 3: 7:10

Mile 4: 7:04

Mile 5: 6:52

Mile 6: 6:56

Mile 7: 6:46

Mile 8: 6:54

Mile 9: 6:59

Weekly Mileage Total: 17.78

In other news, I got a R8 Roll Recovery torture device for Christmas! That thing really hurts. I cannot do very long sessions with it yet. I am hoping it will help my tight calves!

Friday, December 23, 2016

Last week I missed Friday Links so some of these are "old news" by now.
1. Nike and Adidas are working on assembling teams to run a sub 2 hour marathon. I am most interested in reading on the author of the first article (Nike hyperlink) will do with his own self-experiment to break 90 minutes in the half.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Looking back at 2016, it was the strongest running year I have ever had. Sure, I wanted to PR in the marathon in the worst way...being that my 2016 marathon was THE marathon (Boston) and I was already picturing the Run Ink map I would have on my wall with the PR and then that was it. Maybe have another baby. Maybe not. Maybe run some half marathons but that was going to be it. No more marathons.

Except the PR didn't happen. The desire to not do any more marathons didn't happen.

And really my pipe dream was flawed in more ways than one. How often do we get the PR and then just want to be done with things? Yeah, never.

I know I have potential to be better in the marathon than my current PR (3:25:50) reflects. I know I have come a long way in mastering the discomfort that the marathon brings (and could still work on it).

I wanted to end 2016 healthy, rested, and ready to go. And so far, I am on track to do that, current laryngitis be damned!

I want to give the marathon another go in 2017. I admire people who can do more than one marathon a year. My limit truly is one marathon a year. They take so much out of me and my family as saying yes to marathon training requires saying no to other things from time to time.

2015 and 2016 both were spring marathon years for me. Both races were WARM and challenging because of it (even though my 2015 race is my current PR). While winter training is a drag, it is much easier for me to fit my workouts in during the early months of the year than the summer/fall months when our life gets crazy. So...I was eye-ing up the Green Bay Marathon around the time I decided that I was not going to run Boston in 2017.

As half marathon training went on, I was drawn to a fall marathon. Fall just seems like marathon weather to me. Race day is much more likely to be cooler. I thought about signing up for Chicago 2017. It was going to be the 40th anniversary race. I have done it before and it is a great race. Honestly, the Chicago marathon is the best I ever felt while running a marathon and my 2nd fastest marathon time. It would be fun to give it another go! It logistically would be pretty easy given that we could drive there. Still...I wasn't totally into it. Something was holding me back from signing up.

Then, I got very swept up in the media coverage of the 2016 NYC marathon. The NYC marathon went on my bucket list after we were there for the 2009 race and I met Deena Kastor. 2017 was going to be the year I did it. Leading up to my half marathon in November, my goal was to at least qualify for the half-marathon cut off time so that I could make the NYC goal a reality. My work password was built around qualifying for NYC. I easily hit the 1:34 half-marathon qualification mark my age group requires. Ok! I am going to sign up for NYC!

After the feeling of being on cloud 9 post the most amazing half marathon race ever dissipated, I thought more about NYC. I was worried about putting all this stress on myself to have a good race AND deal with so many logistics of traveling to NYC. I knew my family would want to come and I would want them there which would mean a repeat of Boston where we spend the days leading up to the race being tourists and my legs would be tired. And the NYC course is difficult! Did I want to go to NYC and enjoy the race or did I want to put all this pressure on myself to have a great marathon and end up with another Boston 2016?

Then there is the fact that in my life, running comes after family. (In my mind running comes before work, but running doesn't pay the bills so in reality it is 3rd on my priority list!) Unfortunately the big races require so much advance sign up! You practically sign up for them a year in advance! My family has some fun stuff in store for 2017 that I am planning around. Vacations! Weddings! Babies!

Eventually I came full circle back to the Green Bay Marathon on May 21, 2017. There were lots of perks to doing this race:

1. It is 'fast and flat' course. Setting up some good conditions for a PR!

2. It is local-ish. At 90 minutes from our house, it logistically is easy to get to.

3. You finish on Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. This truly doesn't mean much to me (I know, I'm a bad Wisconsinite) but my kids and husband would totally love it.

4. It's cheap ($85 for entry compared to the almost $300 that NYC is!).

5. It got rave reviews from the Oiselle Birds I polled.

6. It has good crowd support.

7. I haven't done it before so it would be a new to me course for my 8th marathon.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Well this last week was nothing to write home about. But, in the interest of keeping it real, I will still write what I did run.

As I mentioned, we have been having some EXTREME cold. In addition, I have caught some chest cold virus which has not been fun. Taking those two together, with the fact that Christmas is around the corner, and my motivation for running has been at an all-time low.

Last week was the last week of the #AMRStride plan. Up until this week, this plan was PERFECT for me. It gave me some accountability, which I love; it gave me interesting workouts, including some strength-based non-running things to do, which I also enjoyed and it kept me in the 20-25 mile range for weekly mileage. I have 5 weeks until marathon training begins so I may just repeat the five weeks of the #AMRStride plan, provided the temps get back into the land of the positive. (*Must order treadmill!)

Ok. Here goes:

Monday: Plan called for a 30-40 minute zen run

My son had an ENT check-up and I had a meeting at church so I didn't get outside until 8:30 pm. Thus, I did the minimum to keep the runstreak alive.

1.36 miles, 10:14 (7:31 pace).

Tuesday:Plan called for 10-15 mins of hill repeats.

This was the day I attempted to run in negative temps. I managed 4.27 miles, 31:02 (7:16 pace) along our hilly neighborhood loop.

This was the day I gave up the run streak. I ended up on the couch, with some wine and a book.

Thursday: Plan called for yoga or pilates

Again, I did nothing as far as work-outs go.

Friday:Plan called for errand on the run.

The temps were in the teens providing a brief respite from the polar freeze. We were set to get an epic snow storm so my boss told us to go home. This allowed me a chunk of time to get a run in before my daughter was going to be home on the bus. Yay!

7.14 miles, 50:17 (7:03 pace)

Saturday:Plan called for 60-90 minute run.

We were snowed in! I was also husband-less for two days. My only exercise was to shovel and snow blow our driveway in between snowfall. Which I will say, I was SWEATY and tired after!

Sunday:Rest

I followed the plan! Temps were scary cold today AND we had our annual cookie bake. Total mileage: 12.77 miles. SAD.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

I am ok running when it is kinda cold. (My definition of kinda cold is temps in the teens, which I feel is generous.)

I am (mostly) ok running on snow as long as I have some traction.

Where it gets a little messy is when I have to run in the dark AND cold AND snow/ice. That is where running is no longer enjoyable to me.

We are in the middle of an unseasonable spell of super cold weather. Temps started to plummet on Tuesday. That day I was still optimistic. I dug in, layered a ton of clothes and wore a gaiter over my face and got 4.25 miles done that day. Honestly, it wasn't bad. But it was an afternoon run (SUN!), little wind, and lots of light so I could knowingly avoid slippery spots. I left work early to get that run in. (AKA This is NOT A long term, sustainable solution.)

My optimism came crumbling down yesterday. The only time I had available to go for a run last night was after kids were in bed. It was windy, felt like -13 degrees, and dark. I called it. This is dumb.

No more #RWRUNSTREAK.

The last few weeks I have been doing a lot of plotting and my spring goals are coming into alignment. (I promise there is a post in the works on this!) The short story is that I am considering the jump to Hanson's Marathon Method for a spring marathon which will require 6 days of running. [I KNOW. Huge jump for me.]

I have gotten through previous winters of marathon training by joining Planet Fitness (cancelling the membership once the weather warmed) and by having a plan that was based around 4 days of running, maybe getting 5 days in on a rare occasion. This afforded me a lot of leeway with being able to schedule workouts on nicer weather days and when I didn't have stuff going on with the fam. If I make the switch to try Hanson's, I will be greatly decreasing any of that flexibility.

I relied on treadmill A LOT last winter and it SUCKS to have to drive to the gym. I realistically cannot picture myself getting six days of running in relying on myself to get to the gym.

Solution: I convinced my husband that he could forgo buying me gifts for the next x number of years, for the x number of holidays if we could get a treadmill. So now I am researching treadmills!

I may be romanticizing this a bit but I feel like having a treadmill in my house is going to take away a lot of my "when can I get a run in" angst.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Last week I was in Boston for 2 days for business. I am all ok running in the dark while running loops around my neighborhood, but I wasn't about to test it in an unfamiliar area so treadmill it was. I can't even remember the last time I was on a treadmill - likely last winter for Boston training. I still am not a fan of them, but was grateful my hotel had a good one so I could still get my runs in!

I kept up the run streak but it was a really challenging week!

Monday:Plan called for 30-40 minute zen run.

32 minutes, 4 miles on the treadmill. Listened to the first half of this ROO Podcast #218 with Rebecca Pachecho. Liked the "relaxation is power" mantra that she talked about learning when she took up boxing.

Tuesday:Plan called for a stair circuit mixed in with squats, planks, tricep dips, pushups, lunges.

I was not about to run stairs in a hotel so I chose a hill workout preset on the treadmill instead. Finished the aforementioned ROO Podcast.

OMG. I cannot even explain to you how sore I was from Tuesday's workout. I only did the running part plus it was my turn in the pool for parent + child swim with my son. I count that as a workout because lifting and swinging a 40 lb. kid in the pool is no joke.

3.1 miles, 23:49 (7:40 pace)

Thursday:Plan called for an off day.

Yep. I was still sore and really tired because I have been going to bed way late in an attempt to get Christmas stuff done. SOOOOOOOOOOO I shut off my morning run alarm. Squeezed this run in between the office and waiting for my daughter to come home from the bus, which meant I left my son at daycare longer. I'm not going to lie...I had some guilt.

2.42 miles, 17:33 (7:15 pace)

Friday:Plan called for 30-40 minute run.

Once again, I shut off my alarm, so I was forced to repeat the same scenario as Thursday. Bus came a little earlier today, so didn't get quite as many minutes in!

2.1 miles, 14:25 (7:10 pace)

Saturday:Plan called for 60-90 minute long run.

The big snow was supposed to start today. I pushed it a bit by waiting for my son's nap to get out on the road. I ended up running when it was sunny and beautiful and before any snow hit. LOVED IT! I had a great run - 9.01 miles, 1:01:31 (6:50 avg pace). I was a little nervous when I saw my early miles that I was not going to be able to negative split my long run, but I dug down and made it happen.

Sunday: We woke up to a ton of snow! It looked so pretty. We had a busy day - church Christmas program + family Christmas party - so I ran in the late afternoon, amidst a lot of snow and slush. Time to dig the yaktrax out! I got my minimum 10 minutes in to keep the #RWRUNSTREAK alive.

Friday, December 9, 2016

I started this book in 2011. I had it on my nightstand to pick up from time to time. I finished it this week! I really love this book and likely will still read it from time to time. Note: This is a compilation of Kristin Armstrong's early blog posts from her Runner's World blog of the same name.

I have been increasingly intrigued by this method over the course of 2016. I am thinking about putting it to the test in 2017. More on this in a later post. (Of course if you have experience with this method, please share!)

Thursday, December 8, 2016

My recap is a little late as I was in Boston for business the first two days of this week!

As I mentioned last week was crazy. And still, I ran every day! Keeping the #RWRunStreak alive! To note, I upped the ante on the Run Streak. Previously I mentioned that the "rules" of the streak state that you need to have at least 1 mile of running to keep the streak alive. I changed this to 10 minutes of running, which lands me in the 1.3ish miles on "off" days.

Last week Wednesday was the end of the #RLYBalanceYourStride contest. Alas, I did not win any prizes, but it was a fun motivator regardless.

It was the 3rd week of the AMR Stride plan. (The #RLYBalanceYourStride running workouts took precedence over any of the AMR workouts until the contest was over.) I appreciate how this plan really has upped the amount from yoga and strength I am doing, going from, oh...zero of that stuff to some is huge!

Finally, I started another streak with my friend B: Do a plank after running every day in December to maintain the #plankstreak. I am starting with 60 second planks, which are doable but challenging for me.

Here we go!

Monday Nov 28: Needed to do at least 15 minute tempo run. I just aimed to hit the minimum with this one.

I ended up doing 6 hill repeats at the end of a 4.5 mile run so ended up with 5.41 miles, 40:39 (7:31 pace). This was a good mental workout for me because I specifically chose a hill that I struggle to get to the top of every day. And truly after this workout, this hill does not bother me as much! Luckily I did this in the morning dark so my neighbors couldn't hear me slightly chant "glutes, glutes, glutes" as I was working my way through some of the difficult parts.

Somewhere in between Christmas choir show practice for kids, Breakfast with Santa, getting my son's birthday party food ready and attending my husband's office holiday party, I got out for AN HOUR RUN!!!!!!!!! HASHTAG CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

8.39 miles, 1:00:01 (7:09 pace) + 1 minute plank

Sunday: 1.26 miles to keep the streak alive in SLUSHY SNOW!!!! First snow run of the season! Both kids joined me for part of this one - apparently it is hard to run in snow pants and boots :) 10:51 (8:38 pace) + 1 minute plank IN THE SNOW!Total miles: 24.2

Recent Race Photo

About Me

I am a 36-year old woman living in Wisconsin who loves to run. I work full time in the health care industry and have a husband and two young children. I originally developed this blog to keep myself motivated on a central goal I had after the birth of my second child: Qualify for the 2016 Boston Marathon. After I checked that goal off the list, I used this blog to document my training and preparation for the 2016 Boston Marathon. Now that the marathon is over...I use the blog to continue documenting training and running-related aspects of my life. Thank you for reading! I love comments!